Understanding The Power Of Storytelling 2018

Once upon a time there was a monthly Brisbane meet up by the name of Networx. In the month of April 2018, the event covered all things storytelling. With the insights of three panellists, the evening aimed to help brands understand how to engage their audiences by telling compelling stories. The attendees learn’t a lot from the event, and they all lived happily ever after.

There’s no denying that for most brands, successfully engaging your audience is something close to a fairytale. With the power of strategic storytelling however, brands are able to connect with their users on a more personal level and drive ongoing engagement. The Networx Brisbane Storytelling event featured the likes of Kate Hunter, David Lloyd-Lewis and Kim Skubris, all providing their insights about what depicts a good story.

The evening started by delving into what exactly storytelling is about and how it can be done right. Kate explained that in its simplest form, storytelling is about emotion. When it’s done right, it’s incredible, but when it’s done wrong, brands will fail spectacularly. Our panellist Kim also agreed and added that in order for a story to be captivating, it needs to quickly capture your audiences attention and have a clear sense of direction.

David also mentioned that there’s so much more to storytelling than just informing readers. A story requires three key ingredients in order to be effective;

“A story is like baking a cake, it includes three key ingredients that need to be equally balanced - these include people, purpose and plot. If you don’t balance these ingredients evenly, the story will dramatically change direction”.

With an emphasis on driving emotion, David highlighted the powerful connection between storytelling and social impacts. The power of good storytelling can help shift the way society views a particular social issue. Good storytelling can uncover unheard stories and really inspire the need to drive a change for the greater good.

David then shared with the audience the trailer to SheStarts, a documentary that TheStoreyBoxeshad produced about female founders of startups. In a world where there are traditionally less female founders than there are men, the aim of the series was to shift the way people perceived females as entrepreneurs. You can watch the trailer below.

How can stories appeal to the greatest audience?

Kate provided her thoughts on the importance of leveraging diversity when writing a story. In order to understand how a story will react with different audiences, it’s important to include a diversity of genders, races and backgrounds when scripting copy. This will result in an unbiased end product that will appeal to a greater audience.

So if you’re a business, what are the quickest wins to help you construct better stories?

David emphasised that brands should know what they stand for and consistently represent that through their content. Kim agreed and added that brands also need to own the stories they create and share. Similar to Social Media management, brands need to stick to what they believe in and not just hide their head in the sand if a crisis unfolds from a story.

The panel finished by wrapping up the evening by sharing some of their favourite resources to inspire powerful storytelling. You can catch them in the video below.

Are you heading along to our next event? Join us at Palace Supper Club on the 22nd of May as we uncover the latest trends in eCommerce. You can find out more about the event here.